1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to single serve beverage brewers, and is concerned in particular with an improved inlet probe for puncturing and venting single serve beverage filter cartridges utilized in the brew cycles of such brewers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,765 (Sylvan et al.) and 5,840,189 (Sylvan et al.) to employ sharpened tubular inlet probes to puncture the lids of single serve beverage filter cartridges. While such devices operate in a generally satisfactory manner, experience has indicated that that interiors of the cartridges often become pressurized as a result of temperature changes and/or outgassing of the beverage medium. If the internal pressure is relieved by venting through the inlet probe, particles of the beverage medium may be entrained with the exiting gas, causing clogging of the probe and a malfunction of the brewer.
The objective of the present invention is to avoid or at least significantly minimize this problem by providing an improved probe that operates in a single downward stroke to pierce the cartridge lid, and to divert vented gases and any entrained particles away from the probe""s inlet passages as the inlet passages are placed in communication with the cartridge interior.
These and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: